Amazon Mulls Building Physical Stores in London: Report

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is considering building physical shops in London and across southern England, as the online giant seeks to expand its retail presence, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

The stores will sell items such as ready-to-eat food and meal kits and will be connected to its Amazon Go app, the report said. Amazon already has similar physical stores in Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco.

The retailer didn’t immediately respond to an emailed message seeking comment.

Such shops have drawn attention because of an unusual feature -- the store can detect what items customers leave with, meaning they never have to check out at a till.

“Our checkout-free shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning,” Amazon says on it website.

The online giant selected a real estate agent in October, according to the Daily Mail. The stores will be built in London or counties including Surrey, Kent, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and Middlesex, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kelly Gilblom in London at kgilblom@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net, Stephen Kirkland, Chris Vellacott

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